Hollywood’s PR Nightmares

Paula Deen

Food Network star Paula Deen was the subject of major backlash after a desposition surfaced in which she is quoted making racist statements and admitted to using the “N word.” The controversy caused Deen to loose her Food Network job, and she later issued an apology where she “begged” for forgiveness. She has since announced that she is launching a digital network.

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Megan Fox

“Transformers” star Megan Fox knows a thing or two about problematic press. In 2011, she likened her director, Michael Bay, to Hitler in an interview with Wonderland Magazine and producer Steven Spielberg had her fired. She was subsequently fired from the next “Transformers” movie and replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. The two seem to have reconciled their differences and Fox will appear in Bay’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie.

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Brett Ratner

Director Brett Ratner’s off-handed comment that “rehearsal is for fags” during a Q&A for his comedy “Tower Heist” cost him the choice job of producing the 2012 Oscars.

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Paris Hilton

Heiress/sometimes actress Paris Hilton is known for her reckless behavior and clueless statements, so not many were surprised when Neil Strauss’s book “Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead” suggested she was against interracial dating. Hilton has also been caught making gay and racial slurs.

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John Galliano

Fashion designer John Galliano’s anti-Semitic rant in a Paris bar in 2011 cost him his job as creative director of Christian Dior, his industry credibility and 6,000 euros in fines. He has since claimed he was too drunk to remember the incident and has been given a temporary position at Oscar de la Renta’s fashion house.

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Michael Richards

“Seinfeld” actor and comic Michael Richards wasn’t getting any laughs when he took a racially charged response to black hecklers while on stage in 2006 at the Laugh Factory. Richards apologized for his statements via satellite on “Late Show with David Letterman” and, judging by the way he referenced the incident in an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” seems aware that it permanently altered his reputation.

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Tracy Morgan

“30 Rock” actor and stand-up comic Tracy Morgan has put his foot in his mouth in regards to gays and lesbians (In 2011, he told a Nashville audience he’d “pull out a knife and stab” his gay son) and disabled children (also in 2011, he told a New York City audience “don’t ever mess with women who have retarded kids”.) In his apology for the first comment, Morgan said ” I am an equal opportunity jokester.”

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Alec Baldwin

Baldwin lost his MSNBC job after calling a hassling photographer a “f-g” on the streets of New York.

Mel Gibson

90s dreamboat Mel Gibson’s rants are legendary. In 2010, his estranged girlfriend famously released recordings of his litany of slurs against her. This, partnered with the PR nightmares of his alleged racist, anti-Semetic and homophobic comments, have ensured that entertainment journalists will forever be writing stories on whether his career is salvageable.

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Gary Oldman

In an interview with Playboy, “Dark Knight” star Gary Oldman blasted Hollywood liberals for their double standard and defended Mel Gibson: “We’re all hypocrites…The policeman who arrested him has never used the word n***** or that f****** Jew?”